Owned by the City of New York, the High Line is a public park maintained, operated, and programmed by Friends of the High Line, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Plant of the Week: Lucile’s glory-of-the-snow

By Erika HarveyApril 2, 2013

This brightly-colored perennial is native to the mountainous regions of Turkey, where it will often pop up through a layer of snow in early spring.

The High Line’s planting design is inspired by the self-seeded landscape that took root on the elevated rail tracks after the trains stopped running. The High Line includes more than 300 species of perennials, grasses, shrubs, and trees — chosen for their hardiness, adaptability, diversity, and seasonal variation in color and texture. Some of the species that originally grew on the High Line’s rail bed are reflected in the park landscape today.

This week we share with you one of our Gardeners’ current favorites.

Glory-of-the-snow, Chionodoxa, is a small genus of flowering perennials that are native to the alpine regions of Crete, Cyprus, and Turkey. Like crocuses, glory-of-the-snow are grown from “corms,” a bulb-like storage organ that allows a plant to be dormant during adverse conditions.

Lucile’s glory-of-the-snow, Chionodoxa luciliae, is named for the mother of discoverer Pierre Edmond Boissier. This variety is a popular ornamental around the world due to it’s tendency to form thick carpets of flowers.

WHERE TO SEE THIS PLANT
On the High Line at West 21st, West 23rd, and West 24th Streets

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Friends of the High Line raises 98% of the High Line’s annual budget.
Owned by the City of New York, the High Line is a public park maintained, operated, and programmed by Friends of the High Line, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.